January

Happy New Year! We hope the holidays were full of friends, family, food and gifts and you’re back to work or university raring to go! We are!

While this blog post is a nice throwback to years past, it would be remiss of us not to acknowledge and condone the horrific, inexcusable yet wholly unnecessary executions of the defenceless writers, journalists and cartoonists at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last week. Here at Euracom, we cater for lots of French students and executives and our thoughts are with their friends, families and colleagues.

We digress. As we’ve alluded to, 2015 is a year absolutely jam-packed full of historical anniversaries so we thought we’d ease you into the year with a short(ish) but fun and memory-provoking trip down memory lane! Some will make you smile, some will make you sad and some may drive you into a seething cacophony of boiling rage…

January

The King, Elvis Presley would have been 80 this year. Winston Churchill died 50 years ago and 70 years ago in 1945, Auschwitz was liberated by the allied forces.

February

It’s been 25 years since Nelson Mandela walked free from Robben Island after 27 years, Bob Marley would have been 70 and 40 years ago, Margaret Thatcher was elected Tory leader.

March

Guitar demi-god Eric Clapton turns 70, Mikael Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviets 30 years ago and it’s been 50 years since US troops first landed in Vietnam.

April

Winston Churchill resigned 60 years ago due to his failing health, the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp took place 70 years ago and Saigon fell 40 years ago.

May

The Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U19-type submarine called SM U-20 100 years ago this month, it’s the 70th anniversary of VE Day in Europe and 35 years ago, Joy Division singer Ian Curtis died.

June

200 years ago, The Duke of Wellington’s Seventh Coalition defeated Napoleon’s armies at the Battle of Waterloo. 600 years before that, King John signed the Magna Carta, a series of written promises between the king and his subjects the he, the king, would govern England and deal with its people according to the customs of feudal law.

July

Harry Potter’s mum, JK Rowling, turns 50; it’s the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces and it’s been 15 years since the Air France Concorde flight 4590 crashed minutes after take-off from Charles De Gaulle airport into a hotel in the small town of Gonesse, prompting the demise of supersonic flight.

August

Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi army invaded Kuwait 25 years ago, claiming they had both reneged on promises to waive the debt Iraq had run up fighting Iran and stolen oil and drove the price down by over-supply. In reality, Hussein wanted oil and access to the Persian Gulf and did everything he could to fulfil his objective. It’s been 75 years since the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki and the King of Bonds, Sean Connery, the most Scottish man in the universe turns 85.

September

In one of the most high-profile crimes of the 20th century, Patty Hearst, granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst was arrested 40 years ago as part of an armed robbery of a bank in California after being kidnapped and brainwashed by the Symbionese Liberation Army. Coronation Street has been on our screens for 60 years and 45 years ago in 1970, four planes bound for New York were hijacked by the Python-esque sounding Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in what became known as the Dawson’s Field hijackings, so named for the airstrip in Jordan where two of the planes landed.

October

It’s been 600 years since the Battle of Agincourt, a major British victory for Henry V against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years’ War; it’s been 50 years since the Telecom Tower, one of London’s most iconic buildings opened and it’s been 85 years since the R101 airship crashed.

November

Thatcher walked out of number 10 for the last time 25 years ago and five years before that was the historic Reagan-Gorbachev meeting, known as the Geneva Summit.

December

25 years ago, English and French engineers met and shook hands under the Channel, the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra would have been 100 and 2015 years ago, Jesus was born!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this look back through the ages and don’t forget, Euracom has a great selection of apartments in London from where you can see 2,000 years of history right on our doorstep!